Travails of winter travel

In the article “Rewards of Winter Travel” (Sept. ’04, pg. 46), the author begged to differ with those who shun winter travel. Well, I beg to differ with her.

Yes, one can travel prepared with layering, proper footwear and raingear, but rain, even prepared for, can put a damper on any trip. We had rain eight out of 10 days in Croatia in November ’04.

I agree that the lack of crowds is delightful, but the flip side of the off-season is that many, nay most, hotels and even B&Bs are closed. As the above-mentioned writer was traveling with a group, no doubt with prearranged reservations, she might not appreciate the frustration of driving into a strange town in the dark (daylight savings time had ended) and in the rain to find no room at the inn.

In Dubrovnik, we wanted to spend three nights at a nice hotel we had found after a lot of searching, but we were kicked out after two nights because they were closing. We could find NO hotel or “Room free” in all of Rovinj and had to drive 40 kilometers farther to Pula to find lodging.

Also, the ferry schedules were curtailed, so we could not make a one-day trip to Mljet.

BRENDA MILUM
Martinez, CA